The population of Camborne was 20,010 at the 2001 UK census. By 2011 the population had grown to 20,845. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan and several satellite villages, stood at 55,400, making it the largest conurbation in Cornwall. The following settlements are in the civil parish: Barripper, Beacon, Bolenowe, Boswyn, Carwynnen, Coombe, Croft Mitchell, Higher Condurrow, Kehelland, Killivose, Menadarva, Nancemellin, Pengegon, Penponds, Reskadinnick, Rosewarne, Roskear Croft, Stennack, Tolcarne, Treslothan, Treswithian, Treswithian Downs and Troon. NOTE: Most of these places have short articles in Wikipedia, but in WeRelate all have been redirected here.

Camborne is located in what was formerly one of the richest tin mining areas in the world and was once the home to the Camborne School of Mines (see below). The School of Mines moved from the centre of Camborne to Trevenson in Pool and is now a specialist department of the University of Exeter, based at Penryn Campus.

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Historical Administration

Camborne originated within the Penwith Hundred and became a civil parish in 1866. During the 19th century it was part of the Redruth Poor Law Union and was a Registration SubDistrict within Redruth Registration District from 1837. It was also an Urban Sanitary District. From 1894 until 1934 it was an Urban District. In 1934 Camborne joined with Redruth, Gwennap, and Illogan to become Camborne-Redruth Urban District Council, the largest conurbation in Cornwall. In 1974 the system of urban and rural districts was abolished on a nationwide basis and an enlarged area became Kerrier District. The whole of Cornwall was made a unitary authority in 2009 with a system of wards replacing the former district organization.

Mining

Camborne is best known as a centre for the former Cornish tin and copper mining industry, having its working heyday during the later 18th and early 19th centuries. Camborne was just a village until transformed by the mining boom which began in the late eighteenth century and saw the Camborne and Redruth district become the richest mining area in the world. Although a considerable number of ruinous stacks and engine houses remain, they cannot begin to convey the scenes of 150 years ago when scores of mines transfigured the landscape.

Dolcoath Mine, (English: "Old Ground Mine"), the "Queen of Cornish Mines" was, at a depth of 3,500 feet (1,067 m), for many years the deepest mine in the world, not to mention one of the oldest before its closure in 1921. The last working tin mine in Europe, South Crofty, which closed in 1998, is also to be found in Camborne.

Richard Trevithick

On Christmas Eve 1801, the Puffing Devil – a steam-powered road locomotive built by Camborne engineer Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) – made its way up Camborne Hill in Cornwall. It was the world's first self-propelled passenger carrying vehicle. Trevithick was born in Penponds, in 1771, a miner's son, and was educated at Camborne School. His achievements (which also include steam power, mining technology, and Cornish culture as a whole) are celebrated every last Saturday of April as the town's "Trevithick Day", and by his statue standing outside Camborne public library.

Research Tips

One of the many maps available on A Vision of Britain through Time is one from the Ordnance Survey Series of 1900 illustrating the parish boundaries of Cornwall at the turn of the 20th century. This map blows up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets.

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